May 1, 2009 - 11:43am
The Museum of Odd-Shaped Bread
I think that I could seriously start one.
I've said many times before that I have scoring issues. I'm getting better, but sometimes things still turn out all wrong. One of them is in the oven right now. Instead of calling it Susan's Ultimate Sourdough, I think I'll rename that loaf UFO bread. *facepalm*
Any of you guys had flying saucers for loaves? Just wonder if I'm alone. *X-Files theme*
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So it's not as bad as I previously thought. But it's still bad.
Yep. You can see how my first ever attempt at shaping pizza went :)
Looks like a beautiful little pizza. The shape looks unique and intentional.
Jeff
I think it makes an interesting presentation. If you let the dough rest a while before spreading it out to size you'll have better luck avoiding these irregular patterns but this one looks so good I think I migh rush my pizza tonight and see if I can get something close.
I love this!!!
Volcano loaf! I wrote in my notes that I thought mine was underproofed and blew out through a score. I thought the loaf needed more time rising before baking. Could that apply to yours too?
Mini
I think my actual issue was my scoring. I just made one long stroke through the middle of the boule, which didn't work very well. I'm going to try a star-shaped pattern of cuts next time.
Results are quite nice, though. Very tasty. My sourdough isn't as sour yet as I'd like, but it's still pretty young. At least I know it can raise a loaf. :)
Hold your serrated bread knife flat on its side, then cut four slices horizontally into the bread to make a square. Slice about 1/2" deep, and make sure your sliced corners connect so that the square is completely cut away from the loaf. This is the same "ultimate" formula with added black sesame seeds. Keep trying, it'll all come together for you.
Susan from San Diego
This one, a cross, and the star are the ones I tend to use with boules. I just wanted to see what would happen with the one long slash. Now I know. Don't think I'll be trying that again.
Hrm, seeds. I wonder what my boyfriend would say to a rye with sunflower and caraway seeds..
Take a peek at the image on this page:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://toxobread.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/20080925boule01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://toxobread.wordpress.com/2008/...
Here's a pattern I use quite a lot for boule:
The other day my dough dropped into the bottom of my cloche from the peel too quickly and folded itself almost in half with the parchment stuck in the fold. My daughter promptly dubbed it the "butt crack bread"--LOL!
We proceeded to create a whole scatalogical menu to go with butt crack bread--beer butt chicken, snot and vomit (my childrens' endearing names for eggplant salad and polenta), lemonade to drink, and chocolate pudding for dessert.
Well, maybe you had to be there, but we had a good laugh, and the bread tasted OK even if it did look silly.
I've had that happen once. I didn't take a photo either. We, as you, ate the bread anyway. The slices just looked a bit silly. :)
Guys,
I'd love to see all the deformed breads that we've all had the embarrasment of bringing to this world. I like Mini's volcano, and actually, Steph, your boule isn't bad at all. I'd have liked to have seen the buttcrack bread.
I'd post something once I figure how to post pics successfully. Keep it coming!
I once made a loaf in the shape of a hand. It looked quite realistic before I put it into the oven, but while in there it rose some more and started to creep off the baking tin.
Not at all aesthetic, but tasted OK.
Pat.
I just remembered another one.
The first time I made bread after taking the first couple months of my pregnancy off I had a few mishaps. One of them was not scoring the loaves of French bread I'd made at all, and realizing it way too late to pull them out of the oven to do it. So I let it go.
It appears that I've at least gotten seaming down well because they didn't burst along the bottom. They burst along the side, in the same place, so that one side of the loaf looked like it had a tumor growing out of it and the other side looked perfect.
It was tasty, but I didn't take a photo of that one.
From May 11, 2021. https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/68196/47h-bake-05112021-90-sgww-durum-ugly-tastes-great
Over-proofed, collapsed, durum loaf in a bread machine. Hole at bottom is from yanking out the paddle. The edge of the "crater" would have been taller, but I ate it.